DateBook
Veterans Building exterior housing Herbst Theatre in San Francisco
Image: Eduardo Manchon / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Classical DateBook venue guide

Herbst Theatre classical concerts

Civic Center · San Francisco

Associated programming: San Francisco War Memorial

Herbst Theatre is an 892-seat auditorium in San Francisco's Veterans Building for chamber music, recitals, lectures, and community performing-arts programs.

chamber musicrecitalsmid-size hallCivic Center
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Next performance

Esmé Quartet Robert Greenberg Host · Lecturer

Saturday, November 7 at 10:00 AM · Ticket information

Show detailsCheck tickets ↗

19

Shows in 90 days

16

Dates listed

Fri + Sat

Coming up most

$0–$125

Listed prices

What to expect

Planning a visit to Herbst Theatre

Choose Herbst when you want a mid-size recital or chamber setting rather than the scale of neighboring Davies Symphony Hall or the Opera House. Check the presenting organization's event page for seating, concessions, run time, and ticket policies before arrival.

Nearby picks

Before or after the performance

Check current hours, performance-day service, travel time, and reservations before relying on any stop.

  • Restaurant

    Absinthe Brasserie & Bar ↗

    A Hayes Valley brasserie for a reservation-led meal before an evening performance; confirm service times against your curtain time.

  • Restaurant

    a Mano ↗

    An Italian restaurant on Hayes Street for pasta, pizza, and a planned pre-concert dinner within the Civic Center and Hayes Valley area.

  • Quick bite

    Souvla — Hayes Valley ↗

    A counter-service Greek option when a faster meal is more useful than a full dinner; check the Hayes Valley location's current hours.

  • Attraction

    Asian Art Museum ↗

    Pair an afternoon museum visit in Civic Center with an evening performance, checking exhibition, admission, and closing times in advance.

  • Attraction

    San Francisco City Hall ↗

    The Beaux-Arts civic landmark faces the War Memorial complex and can anchor a short architectural stop before the performance.

Performance detail pages (19)

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16 artists • 3 composers • 4 formats • 16 venues • 3 neighborhoods

(Herbst Theatre) Filtered Results: 12Clear Venue Filter

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Date: Sat, Nov 7, 10:00 AM PST

Format: ChamberTicketed: $70-$90
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

The Esmé Quartet has enjoyed a tremendously successful debut as San Francisco Performances Artists-in-Residence, bringing exciting new energy to the popular Saturday morning series with music historian Dr. Robert Greenberg . Reviewing the Esmé’s Schubert series debut last season, SF Classical Voice said, “All in all, it was a terrific performance that made you look forward to more Schubert and whatever other works the Esmé brings to San Francisco.” Saturday Mornings combine full performances of works complemented by fun, factual commentary. Audience members find them the perfect way to kick off the weekend with music and fellow music-lovers—a San Francisco Performances tradition for more than 30 years! Program: From Old World to New ERICH KORNGOLD: String Quartet No. 2 FRITZ KREISLER: String Quartet in A Minor

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INSTRUMENTS

#voice

Date: Thu, Nov 12, 11:00 AM PST

Format: OperaSee ticket options
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

Who’s Invited? This event is presented for Bay Area K-8th grade students as part of Philharmonia’s Community Engagement & Learning programs. Are you a Bay Area teacher who is interested in bringing your students the Young People’s Concert? P lease contact us at info@philharmonia.org for more details, RSVP required. Philharmonia’s Young People’s Concert shares the joy of live music with our youngest community members, sparking curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of the arts. By experiencing music as it was first heard centuries ago—on period instruments and in the style of the time—students are invited to connect with history while discovering the thrill of orchestral performance today. Performers Peter Whelan, conductor Sherezade Panthaki, soprano Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Program Concerto Grosso in B-flat major , Op. 3, No. 2, HWV 313 12. Hornpipe from Water Music Suite in F major , HWV 331/2 Arias from Alexander’s Feast: “With ravish’d ears” and “The prince unable to conceal his pain” This program will last around one hour.

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Date: Thu, Nov 12, 7:30 PM PST

Ticketed: $75-$95
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

“ Jan Lisiecki . Remember the name,” asserts London’s Financial Times ; “ the most complete pianist of his age,” adds the BBC. A dynamic phenomenon from an early age, this gifted artist returns to San Francisco Performances with an ambitious program showcasing his powerful technique and what The New York Times calls “pristine, lyrical and intelligent” interpretive gifts. Program: World of Dance: Dance-inspired works by MARTINŮ , DE FALLA , SZYMANOWSKI , SCHUBERT , and BARTÓK

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Date: Fri, Nov 13, 7:30 PM PST

Format: OrchestraTicketed: $40-$125
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

Fresh off his 2025 London Proms success with the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Music Director Peter Whelan opens the 2026/27 subscription season with Handel’s Alexander’s Feast. Centered on a banquet honoring Alexander the Great, the poet Timotheus uses song to guide the room from pride to tenderness, from fury to reflection — a demonstration of music’s power to shape emotion and action. Choose 3, 4, or 5 concerts—as low as $30 per concert SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Single tickets on sale now! GET TICKETS Program HANDEL Alexander’s Feast, or The Power of Music (1742 Dublin version) (U.S. PREMIERE) Performers Peter Whelan, conductor Sherezade Panthaki, soprano Rachael Wilson, mezzo-soprano James Way, tenor Philharmonia Chorale, Valérie Sainte-Agathe, director

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Date: Sat, Nov 14, 7:30 PM PST

Ticketed: $55-$75
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

San Francisco Performances favorite and former Artist-in-Residence Antigoni Goni returns with her ensemble, the Volterra Project Trio , that reimagines classical guitar trio music, drawing inspiration from European impressionism, folk melodies, and cinematic scores. Soundboard Magazine praises their signature style for its “deep use of colors and the dazzling arrangements.” Program: GRANADOS: Valses Poeticos GRIEG: Dances from Peer Gynt SAINT-SAËNS: Danse Macabre BERNSTEIN: Scenes from West Side Story

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INSTRUMENTS

#guitar

Date: Fri, Nov 20, 7:30 PM PST

Format: OperaSee ticket options
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco • • Details

The annual showcase for San Francisco Opera’s resident artists, the Adler Fellows, in opera excerpts and arias with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra at the Herbst Theatre. Discover the next great opera star—in a unique concert event you can't see anywhere else. This year’s program will be conducted by Sebastian Weigle and directed by Elio Bucky.

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Date: Fri, Dec 4, 7:30 PM PST

Format: OrchestraTicketed: $40-$125
Venue: Herbst Theatre • Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area • • Details

A bright, celebratory program for the holiday season brings together composers working in the same 18th-century musical world, each writing in a distinct voice. Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim” and Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen frame the concert with brilliant writing for soprano and trumpet. Telemann offers humor and narrative in his Burlesque de Quixotte, C.P.E. Bach explores emotional contrast in his cello concerto, and Marianna Martines adds a rarely heard Viennese voice to the program. Choose 3, 4, or 5 concerts—as low as $30 per concert SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Single tickets on sale now! GET TICKETS Program HANDEL – “Let the Bright Seraphim” from Samson MARTINES – O virgo, cui salutem debet orbis (WEST COAST PREMIERE) TELEMANN – Burlesque de Quixotte, TWV 55:G10 C.P.E. BACH – Concerto for violoncello in A major, Wq 172 J.S. BACH – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen , BWV 51 Performers Patrick Dupré Quigley, conductor Kathryn Mueller, soprano William Skeen, violoncello Gonzalo X. Ruis, oboe Kathryn Adduci, trumpet

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